SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Lady Panthers return to the court Monday evening in Jackson, Tennessee, against Union for Drury's first game in nine days.
Drury enters play riding a three-game winning streak after their best performance of the season on December 6 at Quincy, a 74-67 win. Union picked up a 62-point win on Saturday afternoon against Christian Brothers, 107-45, for their second consecutive win and third game this season, eclipsing the century mark.
Fans may follow the action through FloSports Basketball (subscription required). FloSports does not offer single-game pricing. A monthly subscription is $29.99 with an annual price of $150. All Drury Lady Panthers games will also have live audio coverage available on
DU All-Access for free with
Hudson Harkness on the call Monday evening.
SERIES HISTORY
- Drury holds a 4-0 record against Union.
- Monday will be the first time in the series' history that a game will be played on Union's campus. The first four meetings were all played in Springfield.
- The last meeting between the two programs was during the 2021-22 season's Thanksgiving Classic, a 73-56 win for the Lady Panthers.
- This will be Kaci Bailey's first time playing against the Bulldogs.
- Union's head coach, Mark Campbell, has been the Bulldogs' coach for all of the previous four meetings, dating back to the first meeting in the 2012-13 season.
STORYLINES
- Monday's game will be the Lady Panthers' fourth of five straight games on the road.
- Drury has won three straight games. If the Lady Panthers were to pick up their fourth straight on Monday, they would face only one team after Union over the next five games with a winning record, Rockhurst.
- Monday's meeting is between two of the top NCAA Division II women's basketball programs in history.
- Union has the best program winning percentage in NCAA-II history (.848). Drury is second with a .832. Over the last five seasons, both storied programs have ranked in the top four in win percentage and total wins. Drury is fourth with a .854 win percentage and 134 wins. Union is third with a .866 win percentage and 136 wins.
- The Bulldogs became a Division II program in 2014 after just more than 40 seasons in the NAIA.
- Combined between Drury and Union, there are 26 regional tournament appearances, five regional titles, and seven professional players.
- The Lady Panthers are 3-0 in Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) play for the 16th time in program history. Drury is one of three undefeated teams in league play this season, but the only undefeated team that has yet to play a conference game on their home floor.
- Since starting 0-2, the Lady Panthers are 5-1.
- During the 5-1 run, Drury is outscoring opponents by 3.3 points per game and shooting nearly 3% better than opponents from the field.
- Sara Mendel is averaging 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, and shooting 66% from the field during the last six games.
- Over the last six games, Rhi Gibbons has contributed 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game.
- Josie Story is shooting 48.3% from three on 29 attempts in the last six games.
- This season, Sara Mendel is seventh in the nation in field goal percentage with a 62.2%. Josie Storey is 24th in the nation in three-point percentage with a 45.7%.
- Rhi Gibbons has scored double-digits in every game this season. The first Lady Panthers player to score at least 10 points in the first eight games of the season since Paige Robinson did so in the 2020-21 season.
- Gibbons is one rebound away from 200 career rebounds.
- Josie Storey is nine points away from reaching 600 career points between her time at UT-Martin and Drury.
- Union was ranked second in the nation in the preseason. Since then, the Bulldogs have continued to drop and are out of the poll for the first time this season. Union will play its second game of the season unranked on Monday.
- Three of Union's four losses have come to ranked teams, including two in the first weekend of the season.
- The Bulldogs lead the Gulf South Conference (GSC) in offense, scoring 86.5 points a game, but are the second-worst defense, allowing 71.7 points a game, only ahead of Auburn-Montgomery.
- Union will win and lose games with the three-pointer. 48% of the Bulldogs' field goal attempts are from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs have attempted 100 more 3-pointers than the next closest team in the GSC.
- The Union defense forces 27 turnovers a game, good for a +11.1 turnover margin, 10 games into the season.
- Union is second in the nation in bench points, scoring 43.4 points a game from players not in their starting lineup.
- Over the last five seasons, Union has only five losses while playing at home, with no more than one loss a season.
- Union's top player, Olivia Lee, is a familiar player for Kaci Bailey. Lee played for Bailey and Destiny Smith this past summer, part of the D2 USA All-Star team that traveled to Brazil. Lee was also teammates with Sara Mendel, Rhi Gibbons, and Kaylee King this summer.
LOOKING AHEAD
Drury will get a rematch with Arkansas-Fort Smith on December 20 on the road to finish the Lady Panthers' five-game road stretch.
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